For today's Sunday with Sisson, I'm talking about scarcity and adversity. These are two of the most important evolutionary inputs that shaped the human genome throughout our evolution over the years, and now they're largely gone from our lives.
Think about it.
Hunter gatherer life was very different than today. Scarcity and adversity were everywhere — wild animals, enemy tribes, poor hunting, natural disasters, bad weather, droughts, floods, everything that can happen out in wild untamed nature.
Scarcity of food, shelter, water, and companionship drove humans to become the apex predators on this planet. Without not having enough, we would never have explored the world, developed massive brains and intricate technology, or learned to modify our environments.
In fact, the entire story of humanity is about overcoming scarcity and fighting adversity. Civilization was a way to overcome scarcity on a grand scale and to create barriers between the people and the adversity they were likely to face in the "real world."
And so we live a barbell existence of either zero scarcity and adversity or way too much. Lack of any scarcity and adversity can create conditions that lead to total destruction and oblivion. Excessive scarcity and adversity can as well.
Adversity is like any other training stimulus. If adversity is too severe, you don't adapt to the training. You just die. Same with scarcity. Too much, and you waste away—you still need the basic components of life to grow and thrive. Too little, and you grow soft—you have everything handed to you and never need to make anything happen yourself.
I don't have the answers here, but it's an interesting topic to consider. Look at your own life and be honest. How much scarcity do you encounter? How much adversity do you have to deal with? Would you be better served exposing yourself to a little more of each?
